Commitment

Every word I write, everything I do, i wish i don't do it for self-pleasure, but only to seek pleasure of the One, Absolute, Allah. Aameen.

"No time, no time" by Haris Gulzar

I wish all Believers could read this poem, especially those who mistakenly think dunya is their real life; and they can't be blamed for such a misunderstanding. Anyways, here's the poem

Courtesy: Ambar Bail: The Plant of Eternity.

"I knelt to pray but not for long

I had too much to do

I had to hurry and get to work

For the bills would soon be due

So I knelt and said a hurried prayer

And jumped up of my knees

My Muslim duty was now done

My soul could rest at ease

All day long I had no time

To spread a word of cheer

No time to speak of Allah to friends

They’d laugh at me was my fear

No time, no time, too much to do

That was my constant cry

No time to give to souls in need

But at last the time came, the time to die

I went before my lord, with hope

I stood there with downcast eyes

And there was an angel holding a book

It was a book of blessed lives

He looked into his book and said

“Your name I cannot find”

I once was going to write it down

But unfortunately never found time"

The beauty of Muslims' prayer

"Last Friday, after the dawn prayer, I stood outside a mosque on a remote mountain in New Mexico. The planet Mars shone like an aircraft coming in to land. But silence reigned: the dawn was, as the Koran puts it, breathing. The trees and stars were, in its words, prostrate before God.

The Muslim life is shaped by acts of prayer which, in turn, are shaped by the movements of the solar system, and the rolling of the planet beneath our feet. A sense of harmony, we hope, is the result. Science can alienate us from the holiness of nature. It can teach us how to destroy nature. But we should thank it too, for giving us more reasons to feel awe, humility, and even gratitude."

Abdal-Hakim Murad

Four Preambles to Salat (Canonical Prayer)

According to Mufti Moulana Taqi Usmani (db) there are four preambles to namaz (canonical prayer in Islam) which when performed before the main prayer create humiliation (khushu, which actually stands for surrending the heart to God; and successful is one in this world and the hereafter who achieves khushu) in one's prayer:

1. Taharat: Cleanliness, attaining bodily purity as per the rulings of Islamic law (based on Koran o Sunnah)

2. Wudu: Ablution when performed exactly the way Prophet performed

3. Two rakah teh-tal-masjid: Better if performed before sitting in the mosque

4. Performing the Sunnats before the farz prayer whether compulsory or not.

After passing through these introducing acts to salat, insha Allah, attentiveness and concentration will be achieved in one's prayer. Prosperity and prosperity for us - if our canonical prayers get corrected.

(From Islahi Khutbaat, vol. # 14.)

A Poem of the way sung by Mufti Taqi Usmani

How many times can we get to a hear poem sung with rhythm in melodic tunes by a scholar of the stature of Maulana Taqi Usmani! And what is more important is the content, the prayer itself, the yearning of the poet... The way of expression of submission to Allah, S.W.T... All beautiful...

Free Talk to God

There are different kinds of prayers. One is free talk to God in which you talk to Him, as Frithjof Schuon remarks. Here is an amazing "advice" I found on a very useful blog, mentioning such a way of praying as free talk. I hope it'll cure many problems of mine that up till now lack a solution. It is a very beautiful advice as well - you'll notice that.

"Develop this habit of talking to Allah. My shaykh Arif-billah Hadhrat Dr Abdul-Hayy ‘Arifi (may Allah have mercy on him) told this to us repeatedly. Sit in solitude and contemplate that I am infront of Allah. Tell Him everything that is on your mind and bothering you. Your past mistakes, the present difficulties and future apprehensions . Tell Him in detail and ask for guidance and help. InshaAllah, in addition, to relieving your anxiety it will lead to the creation of a bond between you and your Lord, Allah (ta’luq ma Allah).”"

Source: http://www.ashrafiya.com/

Daily Reflections: The Phenomenon of Life

'[W]ell-being in this world and well-being in the hereafter' (Al-Qur'an). This is the sum-total and sole aim of all teachings of God Almighty's revealed word. Purification is the first step towards a life of well-being in both worlds. The beauty of Christianity, as Nasr appreciates, lies in its acceptance of God as a mystery, bowing before this mystery and believing in the unknown for He is beyond all perceptions. If faith is something we cannot ever shed off, as Rumi puts it, even then the importance of prayers cannot be negated, because without prayers there is no concept of well-being in man's life. A believer's life without prayer is like of a bird who sits all the day long in its nest and tires to touch the skies and feel the pleasure of flight, and in reality never flies. There is no way that nature has provided that bird to attain the mirth of flight other than by regular flapping and movement of its wings and organs, providing it the necessary thrust and lift to sustain its flight. 

Prayer is a function of a life of well-being as 'f' is a function of 'a' such that f(a)=b.